No red future, only the past
By Prafull Goradia
Op-Ed
The Pioneer
Thursday, April 14, 2005
For the communists, April has been a month of
stocktaking. Neither the CPI congress nor the CPI(M)
plenary, however, came to grips with the relevance of
Marxism as a beacon for parliamentary politics,
especially in the emerging environment. It is now 25
years since Mikhail Gorbachev and Deng Xiaoping decided
on a retreat from, if not rejection, the vision of
Vladimir Lenin. The movement in India, however, is
oblivious as if for the communists time is standing
still.
Cerebral lethargy is understandable for leaders in their
80s and 90s, like Jyoti Basu and Harkishen Singh Surjeet.
But even the younger leaders have not taken the trouble
to stand, stare and ponder as to why except for Kerala,
Tripura and West Bengal, no other part in India has had
time to gaze at the red star. The auguries are,
therefore, dismal despite the takeover of the CPI(M)
general secretaryship by a young Prakash Karat and
perhaps an increased role for Mr Sitaram Yechury. On its
part, the CPI has declared a no change by re-electing AB
Bardhan as its leader.
If I were Prakash Karat, I would treat history as the
obverse of vision. Spend an hour or two on the past
before plunging into the future. The communists have
succeeded in West Bengal primarily due to four reasons.
They provided Bengal with an identity which no central
party could do. The Congress had its national priorities.
On the other hand, the people could see Jyoti Basu as the
greatest Bengali since Netaji Subhas. In contrast, Dr BC
Roy obeyed Jawaharlal Nehru's instructions to dissuade
the Hindus to come as refugees from East Pakistan. The
CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc cadres offered help and
sympathy to win over the refugees so much so that they
forgot the communists had gone out of their way to
support the Muslim League's demand for Partition.
The Left has shown no hesitation in helping Muslim
infiltrators to settle down. There has hardly been a
communal riot in West Bengal since 1977 when the Left
came to power. Moreover, the Leftists organised trade
unions in a State where most entrepreneurs were non-
Bengali. The implicit slogan they sold was: Work less for
same pay or work same for more pay. In Tripura, the CPI
and the CPI(M) patronised the refugees and ignored the
local people. When the former outnumbered the latter, the
red vote-bank became impregnable. In Kerala, farmers
continued to cultivate, but the city workers were
pampered. Until today, a large number of contract workers
are paid even if there is no work to allocate. The wage
is popularly called "good morning money".
Away from India, the communists came to power to fill a
vacuum caused by the collapse of erstwhile regimes. The
debacle of the Czarists in Russia during World War I and
the retreat of Chiang Kai-shek to Taiwan after World War
II are examples of vacuums being filled by the
communists. East and central Europe, Yugoslavia to East
Germany, were instances of capture by coercion; Josef
Stalin was a past master. Chile was the only exception
where comrade Salvador Allende came to power by a free
vote in 1970.
"Workers of the world unite against the bourgeoisie" was
a central call of Karl Marx and his interpretation of
history was centred on class conflict. With the progress
of technology, the proletariat is shrinking. The growing
services sector does not take to trade unionism in the
same way as the factory labour. Moreover, with improved
working conditions as well as the opportunity for the
workers to acquire either property or corporate shares or
both, the proletariat is getting promoted to the class of
petit bourgeoisie. The feeling of exploitation has
receded into history. Why communism? Was the question
raised in Europe some time before the demise of Marxism
in Europe.
Little wonder that apart from Kerala, Tripura and West
Bengal, the only other two red islands in the world left
are Cuba and North Korea. The Chinese Communist Party is
a case of capitalism paying a tribute to the memory of
Mao Zedong.
In the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the
communists themselves have realised their role is
obsolete. Had it been otherwise, they would have opposed
multi-nationals or Indian monopolists against setting up
business, say, in West Bengal. And they certainly would
not listen to being ticked off by, say, Wipro chairman
Azim Premji for organising a bandh. Nor would the
communist unions recommend their members to accept
voluntary retirement and thus emaciate the pillars of
their power. All in all, this is tantamount to the
abolition of revolution as their mission.
Karl Marx dismissed religion as the opium of the masses.
In the Soviet Union, they closed down most religious
places, converted many a church, mosque or synagogue into
an office, museum or departmental store. In West Bengal,
the CPI(M) has gone out of its way to woo Muslims who
comprise one out of four voters in the State. It has also
gone out of its way to welcome infiltrators from
Bangladesh and settle them with ration cards as well as
registration in the electoral rolls.
There is no religion as determined and aggressive as
Islam. The only difference is that the ulema induce their
followers to keep a low profile until the Muslim
proportion of the population reaches the point of an
effective minority, when they get to a position of even
demanding autonomy or separation. Maulana Asad Madani,
president of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Hindi, has already
raised a demand for the introduction of the Shariat in
the Muslim majority districts of Assam. What Assam hears
today, West Bengal could well experience tomorrow. So
dismal are the comrades' prospects.
More at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com
Jai Maharaj
http://www.mantra.com/jai
Om Shanti
Hindu Holocaust Museum
http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
http://www.hindu.org
http://www.hindunet.org
The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
The terrorist mission of Jesus stated in the Christian bible:
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not so send
peace, but a sword.
"For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the
daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in
law.
"And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
- Matthew 10:34-36.
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